San Francisco Middle Schools No Longer Teaching Algebra

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > San Francisco Middle Schools No Longer Teaching Algebra

PERPETUAL IDIOT: Sep 12, 2003

tsa posted:

Common core is retarded when it comes to math education so no surprise here.

How so?

# ¿ Sep 11, 2015 03:10

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 22:26

PERPETUAL IDIOT: Sep 12, 2003

Yashichi posted:

"District officials say the controversial practice of tracking students � or separating them based on talent and ability � is simply wrong."

Is this really controversial? Where is this controversy happening?

Tracking is very controversial in education. Historically it has been used to separate students of different races and classes - offering very little to the poor students of color who actually do manage to go to decent schools.

My own experiences in high school worked essentially this way. I went to a large public school in a rich neighborhood, which also drew a lot of poor, black students from the "bad" part of town. I was put into almost-entirely-white gifted classes and there were "regular" wings of the school where the non-honors, non-gifted students mostly took their classes. We would basically only meet in PE or electives.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2015 03:46

PERPETUAL IDIOT: Sep 12, 2003

Yashichi posted:

That's really lovely but it seems to be a distinct issue from students having different levels of ability and classes that reflect that fact

Sure - just use a measure of the singular concept of "student ability" that isn't heavily associated with racial and socioeconomic factors, and then place students into different tracks based on that measure. Seems simple enough, really.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2015 04:11

PERPETUAL IDIOT: Sep 12, 2003

asdf32 posted:

My opinion: large swaths of mathematics and algebra in particular are low class drudgery made largely irrelevant by computers and calculators. Math to most of real life is like spelling and grammar to writing. It's a tool which should be understood well enough to manipulate but fixation on the mechanics of the process is either mostly irrelevant or actually impedes higher level thought.

You're fighting against an impoverished notion of math and algebra. You're confusing the study of those things, which are incredibly rich, worthwhile subjects, with the study of specific algorithms and rote memorization that you were given in school. There's no reason why it has to be that way.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2015 04:22

PERPETUAL IDIOT: Sep 12, 2003

asdf32 posted:

Generally wrong. I'll repeat the analogy from above: math to science and engineering is like spelling to literature.

Personally I spell at probably a 4th grade level and don't know know what the word adjective means. This is largely irrelevant to my ability to write on a computer (and I write at what, 10th grade level at least).

They're just not necesarily related, and it's the higher level thinking and manipulation that's more important and more widely applicable in the real world than mechanics.

The emphasis is on mechanics is a problem for students as well as a crutch for teachers and tests to reduce actual abstract subjects down to easy to grade numerical results.

I'll repeat to you. Math to science and engineering is not like spelling to literature. Many people on the theoretical cutting edge of a lot of scientific fields are essentially super-specialized applied mathematicians. Some of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived were engineers trying to solve practical problems. You don't know what you're talking about, presumably because you were let down in your math education.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2015 05:24

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